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Research paper tips from QuestiaWed, 07 Dec 2016 17:21:20 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.4Journalism and the Fourth Estate for your next research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2015/05/journalism-and-the-fourth-estate-for-your-next-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/05/journalism-and-the-fourth-estate-for-your-next-research-paper/#respondThu, 14 May 2015 16:24:47 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41211In a course on mass communication you’re likely to cover topics such as broadcast journalism, news media and investigative journalism. Journalism is also known as the fourth branch of government, or the Fourth Estate, because it plays such an important role in our democracy. In order for the public to make decisions when voting, they must be well informed on the issues.

Learn more about the history of journalism. (Credit: Wannabe Reporter)

The news media wields great power in its ability to shape public opinion. For this and many other reasons, the history of journalism would make for an interesting research paper topic.

Can journalism be saved?

A good place to start your research on journalism history is at Questia where you can read millions of full-text books, articles, journals, newspapers and encyclopedias. But what really makes Questia an ideal resource for college students is the library of research tutorials and videos that show you how to research your paper, cite and store your sources, write your paper and create your bibliography in the appropriate format.

This book reviews the complicated challenges facing journalism, tracing its 19th-century community-oriented origins and documenting the vast expansion of the news business via blogs and other Internet-enabled outlets, user-generated content, and news-like alternatives.

Mersey discussed the great influence that media has over shaping public opinion noting that this influence fell into two categories:

Societal influence: The ability of a newspaper to gain trust from the readers

Commercial influence: The newspaper’s capacity to circulate via subscriptions and sales and to shape buying decisions

“Of course, societal influence and commercial influence are intertwined because it is the former that gives the latter any value. A newspaper with absolutely zero societal influence will not be able to sell copies nor attract advertisers,” Mersey concluded.

Role of journalism in the election cycle

You may have noticed how much news coverage there is regarding the 2016 presidential election. Candidates are working hard to build their image and campaign platform. According to an article, “Media as the ‘Fourth Estate’” from Professor Cynthia Boaz of the University of San Francisco, the role of the media during the election cycle includes:

Primary season: The goal is to win over Iowa and New Hampshire

Horserace coverage: Reporting who is ahead, the statistics and public opinion polls

Sound bites: Short comments from candidates

“Line of the Day”: Presidential manipulation of the press setting the news agenda for the day

The role of the White House Press Secretary was described as “the apex of a huge public relations apparatus in the executive branch which devotes an extraordinary amount of staff, resources, and time to generating a positive image of the president.”

Boaz believes that because of the influence that the news media have, we now find that political parties have less influence in elections. Instead of the issues taking front and center, it is the personality of the candidate that often is the primary determinant in the election outcome.

Online journalism

Colin Meek posted, “The online journalism timeline,” in a March 10, 2006, post for Journalism.co.uk. According to Meek, journalism made its first foray onto the Internet in 1994. It didn’t take long for online journalism to become a central news hub in people’s lives.

Some of the highlights from the online journalism timeline included:

December 1997: BBC online started a full service

March 1999: The first RSS headline syndication was developed by Netscape (RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, it provides news feeds on the web)

What is one moment you remember most in journalism history? Tell us in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/05/journalism-and-the-fourth-estate-for-your-next-research-paper/feed/0Community college and rising college tuition and fees research paper topichttp://blog.questia.com/2015/01/community-college-and-rising-college-tuition-and-fees-research-paper-topic/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/01/community-college-and-rising-college-tuition-and-fees-research-paper-topic/#respondMon, 19 Jan 2015 17:20:21 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=39073On Friday, January 9, 2015, President Obama announced his proposal to make a community college education free to anyone who attends at least half-time and maintains a 2.5 grade point average. Average college tuition and fees have increased at an annual rate of 7.1 percent each year since 1981.

If passed, the proposal would save each student about $3,800 per year in college costs. This might be a good time to think about a research paper on college tuition costs.

High college costs

It’s no secret that the cost of a college education has exploded over the past thirty years. This high cost is rapidly placing a degree beyond the reach of many Americans at a critical time when more education is needed, not less.

Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman explained how rising college costs exhibit the same market behavior as other industries in their book, Why Does College Cost So Much? available at Questia.

According to the authors, the main culprit is economic growth itself. Forces that have pushed the cost of college tuition higher include the changing wage structure of the U.S. economy. Education is a service industry and like other service industries its costs have increased. These costs are not as easy to control as those in manufacturing or agriculture where technological advancements have lowered costs of production.

The authors refer to this as the “cost disease” phenomenon. They say that the artisan nature of higher education accounts for the continuing rise in costs. It relies on a highly educated workforce. Although the technology of distance education could lower costs, people value the student-teacher interaction in an on-site classroom. As long as this is the case, costs of an education will continue to rise faster than inflation.

“If our policy goals are built around increasing access to higher education so that a greater fraction of the population can acquire the skills that come with a high quality education, then we must build those policies with a clear understanding of the broader social and economic forces that limit access,” Archibald and Feldman said.

President Obama proposal

According to Bacon, the President’s plan is built on a model used in Tennessee and in the city of Chicago. Under the plan, the federal government and states would contribute to paying the entire cost of two years at a community college.

It is estimated that 9 million people would benefit from the plan, which would save each student about $3,800 each year in college costs.

“It would probably benefit middle-class students more than the very poorest, who qualify for federal Pell grants that usually cover the cost of community college. People of any age would be eligible for the program,” Bacon said.

Community college tuition plan

Considering the fact that the U.S. Congress is primarily Republican now, what are the chances that the president can push this plan through? According to Devin Dwyer in his January 9, 2015, article for ABCNews.com, “Obama’s Free Community College Idea May Be Hard Sell.”

Both the Republican congress and the states would have to get on board with a plan that would cost an estimated $60 billion over ten years. The costs would be split with the federal government paying three-fourth and the states paying one-fourth of the cost.

So far the response has been less than supportive. Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee opposes the plan because it involves the federal government. He prefers that states champion their own programs.

“Still, the notion ‘free’ community college is tantalizing to many. Democrats envision a system akin to free the nation’s public high school system which is funded jointly by state and federal governments,” Dwyer observed.

President Obama has been touring the country and talking about his proposal on college campuses. The White House said that the president will describe more details in his State of the Union address on January 20 and in his budget request which is due on February 2.

How are you handling the rising costs of college? Tell us in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/01/community-college-and-rising-college-tuition-and-fees-research-paper-topic/feed/0Midterm elections 2014 for your research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2014/10/midterm-elections-2014-for-your-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/10/midterm-elections-2014-for-your-research-paper/#respondTue, 28 Oct 2014 16:24:07 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=36973Taking place every two years between presidential elections, the midterm elections voting results can shape the future of the presidency. It is at this time that all members of the House of Representatives are up for re-elections and the 2014 Senate races will determine the membership of one-third of the Senate.

Midterm elections

According to Watts, most existing members of Congress tend to get re-elected at midterms. “For instance, in 1998, 98.5 percent of members of the House and 90 percent of Senators again won re-election. Even in years when there was an anti-incumbency mood (1992, 1994), many more members left office through retirement than because of defeat at the polls,” Watts said.

The midterm elections are often used as a barometer to measure the president’s chance of re-election. For example, in 1994 the shift in Congress favoring Republicans was seen as a blow to the future prospects of the Clinton presidency. In fact, the Republican majority in Congress created a series of attacks that arguably hampered Clinton’s ability to accomplish his agenda.

With two years left to his presidency, Barack Obama will need all the help he can get in being an effective president. His ability to get things done has been hampered by a Republican-dominated House that seems bent on stopping him at every turn. If the Democrat-dominated Senate changes to a Republican majority then the next two years may be a disaster for the beleaguered Obama.

Except for health care, the Republicans were perceived to be the better party to deal with the issue. However, in terms of who was more concerned with the needs of the people and in governing in an ethical way, it was the Democrats who won the vote of survey respondents.

The survey revealed that there is a lot of frustration with Congress and nearly a third of respondents said that they don’t want to re-elect their representative.

“Seven-in-ten voters who support Republican candidates (70%) and about as many Democratic voters (65%) say they do not want most representatives to win reelection,” the survey showed.

Two states will vote on initiatives that would define life as beginning before birth.

Lately, it’s the governors who are getting things done which is why it matters who wins in the various gubernatorial races. Take for example Wisconsin where Republican Governor Scott Walker is being challenged by Democrat Mary Burke. Walker, who has made noises about running for president in 2016, will have less of a chance if he can’t even swing his own state election.

According to Daileda, voter turnout at midterms is about 15 percent less than it is for presidential elections.

“The people who don’t show up as much to midterm elections tend to be younger and less white, meaning the electorate in 2014 will be older and whiter, thus favoring Republicans. This is the case just about every midterm election, which is a good bit of information to keep in mind to help frame the election cycle,” Daileda said.

Will you be voting in the midterm elections? Tell us what you think of the elections in our comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2014/10/midterm-elections-2014-for-your-research-paper/feed/0Research topic: Supreme Court decision on gay marriagehttp://blog.questia.com/2014/10/research-topic-supreme-court-decision-on-gay-marriage/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/10/research-topic-supreme-court-decision-on-gay-marriage/#commentsFri, 10 Oct 2014 16:23:47 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=36071With the latest decision, or rather lack of a decision, on gay marriage by the U.S. Supreme Court, the balance of states where gays and lesbians will soon be able to legally wed, is tipping. Five states—Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin—had appeals before the high court to overrule lower courts’ decisions to strike down same sex marriage bans.

The Supreme Court not taking a stance on gay marriage makes for a good topic. (Credit: Getty Images)

One avenue to explore for research paper topics on the ruling includes what is behind the Supreme Court’s dodging of these appeals? Another topic question would be are there consequences beyond the five states involved?

Supreme Court far-reaching effects

By opting to not rule, the Supreme Court has effectively allowed Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin to begin allowing same sex marriage. But the decision by the High Court will also have a potential effect on about six more states. “An Explainer on the Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Decision” by Ashby Jones for The Wall Street Journal’s blog on October 6, 2014, shared that the Court also left in place rulings from the Fourth, Seventh and 10th circuit courts.

What does that mean? Jones wrote, “It’s likely that bans on same-sex marriage in six states within those circuits are now in serious jeopardy. Those states are North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Colorado.” Should that happen, 30 of the 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., will have declared gay marriage legal.

Reaction from same sex marriage advocates

Many groups who support gay marriage were happy with what the Supreme Court did. Not only will couples in those five states be able to immediately file for marriage licenses, but also by sidestepping the issue, the high court sent a message to lower court justices as well about the constitutionality of same sex marriage bans. Lawrence Hurley weighed in for Reuters.com October 6, 2014, with “Supreme Court dodges gay marriage, allowing weddings in five more states.” Hurley wrote that Freedom to Marry (a same sex marriage group) “still want the high court to intervene and provide a definitive ruling covering all 50 states.”

An especially interesting aspect of the Court’s non-ruling, and one that provokes many research paper topics, is that the justices offered no explanation for their decision. For the court to decide to move forward with a case, four justices must vote to hear it. So at least nine of the 12 justices voted no. But who, and why?

Fast moving changes

Gays and lesbians have had a tumultuous decade. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same sex marriage. Fast forward to 2014 and now gay marriage is legal in 19 states and the District of Columbia, with the five states who had the appeals before the Supreme Court soon to bring that number to 24 states. Why has the tide shifted so quickly?

“Five Reasons Gay Marriage Is Winning” by Kevin Eckstrom for the National Catholic Reporter June 6, 2014, explores those questions. He credits the following with the rapid changes:

1. Cultural shifts. Gays and lesbians have become more visible in daily life thanks to the media.

2. A friend in the Oval Office. It may have taken President Obama some time to get there, but his support of same sex marriage has been very beneficial.

3. Conservative over reach. A push for a national ban and an inability to compromise hurt the conservatives and strengthened supporters of gay marriage.

4. The fading influence of religion. The church doesn’t hold the sway over the majority of Americans the way it used to. Eckstrom wrote, “77 percent of Americans say religion is losing its influence on public life.”

5. A negative image. Perhaps most damaging of all to those who opposed same sex marriage was the hateful and uncompassionate air that surrounded their efforts and turned people off.

Why is no decision from the Supreme Court good for same sex marriage? What do you think the high court was thinking when it declined to decide whether states can ban gay marriage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2014/10/research-topic-supreme-court-decision-on-gay-marriage/feed/1Campus safety topics for your next research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2014/09/campus-safety-topics-next-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/campus-safety-topics-next-research-paper/#respondMon, 22 Sep 2014 16:30:28 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=34451Campus safety has been in the news a lot lately as we’ve seen rape victims united in their search for justice. If you have a term paper due soon then consider research paper topics that highlight the issues related to domestic violence and safety on campus.

Awareness of campus safety is vital for all college students. (Credit: amazonaws.com)

It’s also a good idea to learn more about this social problem because as a student, you are located at the heart of the issue.

Carry that weight

The issue of campus safety is very personal for Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz. After being raped in her dorm bed by a fellow student on the first day of her sophomore year, Sulkowicz reported the attack to the university only to find that she was one of three other students who had filed cases against the alleged attacker.

The university eventually found the student not guilty. Sulkowicz filed an appeal, but lost.

According to the article, “I was raped in my own dorm bed, and since then, that space has become fraught for me,” […] “And I feel like I’ve carried the weight of what happened there with me everywhere since then.”

In response to the verdict Sulkowicz, a visual arts major, has turned her protest into a performance art piece that she calls “Carry That Weight.” She has promised to carry her dorm room mattress with her as long as she attends the same school as her alleged rapist. Her commitment has gained the support of several students and other interested locals who have committed to helping her carry the mattress.

The link to alcohol

For many, part of the campus culture is partying and drinking. But overindulging in alcohol carries many dangers that inexperienced minds often don’t consider.

Vander Ven noted that sometimes male students will prey upon female students who have become intoxicated. They might even deliberately encourage the women to drink more than they could handle. With her senses and judgment impaired, the female is an easy victim unless a male friend can successfully “cock block” the aggressor from succeeding with this plan.

“College Alcohol Study research suggests that rape is significantly more common at heavy binge-drinking colleges and that 72 percent of women who reported being raped at school were raped while intoxicated. […] Though sexual predators often play semantic games to suggest that an assault was ‘consensual,’ severely intoxicated women simply lack the capacity to agree to sex,” Vander Ven said.

Campus safety: Protect and prevent

What can be done to make your campus safer? The editorial board of USAToday.com issued their take on the question in an August 4, 2014, post, “Preventing campus rapes: Our view.”

According to the board, “Many campus assaults are committed by serial rapists who prey on naive underclasswomen by using alcohol or drugs, as well as physical force. One study found 84% of “sexually coercive” experiences occurred during the first two years of college.”

Breaking the silence

According to psychologist and researcher David Lisak, one of the ways to prevent rapes on campus is to train men to break their silence about objections to violence against women. In his 2002 survey of 1,800 male college students, Lisak found that about 6 percent, or 120 men, admitted to being responsible for a total of 439 rapes.

Of the 120 admitted rapists, two-thirds were serial rapists who had committed rape on average, six times.

These men don’t consider themselves rapists because they don’t fit the stereotype of an attacker who wears a ski mask and wields a knife.

“In fact, they’d brag about what they had done afterwards to their friends. That implied endorsement from male friends — or at the very least, a lack of vocal objection — is a powerful force, perpetuating the idea that what these guys are doing is normal rather than criminal,” Starecheski said.

Lisak believes that by the time an 18-year-old leaves for college he needs to be hearing challenges from his male friends about his behaviors toward women. High school programs such as Iowa’s Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) are working to teach young men how to spot and diffuse situations where women are being victimized.

A good research paper topic for your sociology or women’s studies class might be to provide a definition of domestic violence, offer domestic violence statistics, discuss organizations like the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and report on actions to prevent domestic abuse.

Sports figures and domestic violence

NFL player Ray Rice was caught on an elevator security camera punching his then-girlfriend now wife Janay Palmer Rice so hard she passed out, after which he carried her unconscious body out of the elevator. Due to public uproar, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been forced to change his position of suspending Rice for only two games and suspend him indefinitely.

In other sports-related cases, Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was suspended after being convicted of violence against his then-girlfriend, while Minnesota Vikings player Adrian Peterson was suspended for allegations of child abuse. It’s a shame it takes the suspension of multimillion dollar popular sports figures to bring to light the viciousness of domestic violence, but at least it gets people talking about the problem.

Definition of domestic violence

According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, “Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive, controlling behavior that can include physical abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, sexual abuse or financial abuse (using money and financial tools to exert control). Domestic violence is a pervasive, life-threatening crime that affects millions of individuals across the United States regardless of age, economic status, race, religion or education.”

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) made a statement following the NFL decision against Ray Rice. The NCADV “supports the National Football League (NFL) in its efforts to prevent domestic violence by suspending Ray Rice indefinitely. To finally be heard and have people understand the impact of domestic violence is encouraging. However, although this is a step in the right direction, NCADV recognizes that domestic violence does not live only on the football field.”

Health and monetary costs of domestic violence

A research paper topic choice might be to describe the economic and healthcare costs of domestic violence. Studies have seen victims of abuse exhibit debilitating symptoms many years after leaving abusive situations. “[Victims] now face far higher than normal rates of chronic health problems, including arthritis and hormonal disorders, asthma, diabetes, hypertension, chronic pain, severe headaches and irritable bowel syndrome,” reported Alexis Jetter in “Domestic Violence: A Hidden Cause of Chronic Illness” posted on More.com, November 2013.

“As a result, these women spend nearly 20 percent more money on medical care than other women. Annual U.S. medical costs attributable to domestic violence, including years-old assaults that still cause health problems, range from $25 billion to $59 billion, according to a 2008 study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some of the damage is from old physical injuries, some from the chronic stress of living in terror for too long,” wrote Jetter.

Violence Against Women Act: 20 year anniversary

Another idea for a research paper is to trace the recognition and steps taken to abolish domestic violence. It’s hard to believe but only 20 years ago, on September 13, 1994, the U.S. government during President Bill Clinton’s administration passed the Violence Against Women Act, which recognized domestic violence as a serious crime, rather than a private family matter.

The act funded programs to train police to investigate attacks and funded shelters for battered women. As Congress renewed the bill over the years, it has added elements to protect women from abusive boyfriends, initiated training programs for doctors to screen patients for physical abuse, and offered social services to victims of domestic abuse regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, as reported by Carrie Johnson at NPR.org.

How to stop domestic violence

Basically, giving women the same rights as men, which are due all human beings—education, safe housing, healthcare, justice, and political representation—goes a long way to curbing domestic violence. In the book The Political Economy of Violence against Women, published in 2012, Jacqui True writes: “Women are less vulnerable to violence when they have a good economic status, including access to full-time employment, land/property rights, access to credit/capital, and enjoyment of social and political rights… However, this broader political economic order is often neglected in analyses of violence against women. Governments, nonstate actors, and international organizations need to work together to create enabling conditions for the enjoyment of economic and social rights. Doing so would represent a major step toward eliminating violence against women, its causes, its consequences, and its costs.”

What are some other areas of domestic violence that can be pursued for a term paper?

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/research-paper-topic-on-domestic-violence-effects-and-prevention/feed/0Research topic on labor unions: Market Basket strikehttp://blog.questia.com/2014/09/research-topic-on-labor-unions-market-basket-strike/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/research-topic-on-labor-unions-market-basket-strike/#respondWed, 10 Sep 2014 16:22:58 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=32211In an unprecedented case, the 99% went on strike to help a 1 percenter get his job back. Good research paper topics for your business, economics or labor relations class could involve the case of the New England-based grocery store chain Demoulas Market Basket, which was paralyzed by striking workers demanding that their CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas, be reinstated. Labor unions are nervous as non-union Market Basket employees were able to accomplish their goal on their own.

Business at the 71-store Market Basket was reduced to a trickle after non-union warehouse workers, clerks, and even store managers walked off the job, picketed, and discouraged customers from shopping at the store. Fresh foods like meat, produce, and dairy were gone from shelves, and stores ran on a skeleton crew selling only nonperishables. Customers, who highly valued the store’s lower prices, boycotted in droves. Business was down 98 percent.

Family feud derails company

The reason for all this was a feud at the family-run company. Beloved CEO Arthur T. Demoulas was removed by the board of directors, led by his cousin Arthur S. Demoulas, on June 23, 2014, and replaced by outsiders. Arthur T, as he is affectionately known by employees, has a reputation for paying above minimum wage, treating workers with respect, knowing employees by name, and offering generous benefits and profit-sharing programs. So bitter was the feud that the governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire stepped in to help resolve the issue and get back to work the 25,000 people in New England the company employs.

During its six-week shutdown, one store estimated a loss of $1.2 million a week. On August 27, 2014, the board agreed to allow Arthur T. to buy a 50.5 percent stake in the company for $1.5 billion and be reinstated as CEO. Immediately, food began to be delivered to stores and loyal customers returned, breaking sales records for the Labor Day weekend.

So why is this story so newsworthy? Rather than striking for improvement in their own jobs, the store’s employees went on strike to give a multi-million dollar CEO back his job.

Non-union vs. union

The success of the non-union Market Basket workers to achieve their astonishing goal of reinstating their CEO is making unions nervous. Unions profess to be the tool by which the downtrodden worker can petition for better wages or working conditions. Yet the Market Basket employees worked together with their managers, enlisted social media to plan rallies and protests and forced the hand of corporate management.

“This company never needed or never will need a union. We’re far stronger than that,” says Joe Schmidt, a Market Basket operations supervisor, in “In Market Basket’s Win, Did Workers Change The Game?” by Curt Nickisch, posted September 5, 2014, on NPR. Schmidt and other managers led the truckers and warehouse workers who walked off the job and brought the company to a standstill. “Just think of it: There’s no union dues or union fees. And look what has been accomplished,” Schmidt says.

State of labor unions today

Union membership has declined across the United States since the early 1980s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 1983, more than a fifth of the nation’s workers were unionized. By 2013, the rate had fallen to 11.3 percent, according to Chris Fleisher in the article “Unions Battle to Survive,” in Pittsburgh Tribune Review, April 9, 2014. Declines in union membership are attributed to the decline in manufacturing and industry in America and damaging anti-union laws and “right-to-work” laws forbidding unions that require workers to join to keep their jobs.

Whether or not unions are still needed, the Market Basket case shows the power of solidarity among workers, confidence in teaming up with management and use of social media to disseminate news and gather workers and customers to their cause.

Market Basket affects job market report

So influential was the Market Basket strike that it affected the U.S. Department of Labor Jobs Report. In “Market Basket cited in US jobs report” posted at the Boston Globe September 5, 2014, Jack Newsham reported that after the six-week work stoppage: “The Labor Department cited the Market Basket job actions, which idled hundreds of full-time workers and as many as 20,000 part-time workers as a factor in the nation’s disappointing job growth in August. The grocery store industry had 17,000 fewer jobs in August, the Labor Department said, noting ‘employment disruptions at a grocery store chain in New England.’” The supermarket sector usually adds 6,000 jobs per month nationwide. Now that Market Basket workers are back, the downturn in the jobs report is expected to be reversed.

Do you think labor unions still have a place in today’s business world?

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/research-topic-on-labor-unions-market-basket-strike/feed/0Make research easier with the new Questia Android apphttp://blog.questia.com/2014/09/make-research-easier-with-the-new-questia-android-app/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/make-research-easier-with-the-new-questia-android-app/#respondTue, 09 Sep 2014 16:51:41 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=31171Constantly being on the go is a feeling plenty of college students can relate to, and Questia understands that. So we asked ourselves, what can we do to make your college life a little bit easier, maybe a little less stressful?

Take your term paper research to the next level wherever you are with Questia’s all-new Android app – built for either your tablet or mobile device. Because, College is hard… Writing research papers doesn’t have to be!

Perks of the Questia Android app

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems as though it’s not uncommon for college students to have their phones or tablets by their sides at all times, amiright? With this being the case, Questia wanted to provide Android users with an experience that will make writing research papers easier than before.

Students can now use that ten minutes spent sitting on the bus highlighting or bookmarking credible, full-text resources from Questia’s library, which they can easily go back to once hunkered down to write their research paper. Believe me, ten minutes here and there will go a long way! Here are a few other features that will help you write better research papers faster:

Plentiful access to library: Questia library contains over 83,000 books and 10 million articles. With the easy to use search engine, you can simply type in keywords related to your topic of choice and browse through the results to find the information you’re seeking.

Save projects: When you come across a statement while scrolling through one of Questia’s resources, no need to worry about losing your spot. You can save your resource to the Saved Projects section for easy access when you come back to it later. You can also highlight specific parts of text within the resource and save in this section.

The all-new Questia Android app is here to help you write better research papers faster. The free app is now available for download to your device so what are you waiting for?

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/make-research-easier-with-the-new-questia-android-app/feed/0Computer science research topic on Sony hackinghttp://blog.questia.com/2014/09/computer-science-research-topic-on-sony-hacking/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/computer-science-research-topic-on-sony-hacking/#respondMon, 01 Sep 2014 16:21:35 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=30349Hackers have been, well, wreaking havoc of late. The latest victims appear to be Sony PlayStation network users who found themselves the target of computer hackers over the weekend of August 23 – 24, 2014.

The Sony PlayStation 4 with the DualShock 4 controller.(Credit: Evan-Amos)

While the computer hackers or hacker, who identified themselves with the Twitter handle @LizardSquad, did not attempt to compromise the personal data of Sony PlayStation network’s 53 million users, the hacker did make a bomb threat against an airline flight a Sony executive was traveling on. If you’re looking for a good research paper topic in computer science, consider these recent issues in cyberterrorism and cybersecurity.

A bad weekend for Sony

The hack attack on Sony follows an earlier hacker attack in August by a Russian crime ring. The cyberterrorism group was reported to have gathered more than 1.2 billion user names and passwords, the largest known collection of Internet credentials to date. But obviously, the Russian hackers are not the last of this modern crime wave we will be seeing.

In “Sony Says User Information Safe After Hackers Targeted PlayStation Network” posted at Time, August 25, 2014, Stephanie Burnett shared more about the latest attack. “The purported hacker said the attack was carried out to warn the Japan-based firm that more profits needed to be spent on data security,” Burnett wrote. So while it would appear that @LizardSquad, who accused the company of greed and not protecting its users, is attempting to look out for Sony PlayStation network users, the end doesn’t seem to justify the means.

Smedley actually tweeted about the diverting of his flight, but not the reason behind the change. Perhaps in even stranger cyberterrorism news, Peele wrote that @LizardSquad is also claiming the bomb threat and the Sony PlayStation network hack are connected to ISIS, the jihadist group currently linked to the upheaval in Iraq and Syria.

Hackers on the rise

As mentioned above, the weekend’s attempt on the Sony PlayStation network is not the first major attack by computer hackers this year. In “Hackers Claim Data Theft on 800 Million Cards–But Is It True?” from the April 1, 2014, issue of American Banker, Penny Crosman addressed another cyberterrorism attack, this time by a group known as Anonymous Ukraine. The group claimed to have stolen 800 million U.S. credit and debit accounts in March 2014, including information from people in the highest level of politics. But was it true?

Crosman wrote, “Two companies investigating the breach–Risk Based Security and Battelle–say they have been unable to verify that 800 million accounts, including those of the VIPs, have been compromised.” Researchers at Battelle found that many important elements of information were missing, such as the expiration date or credit card validation code. Without those numbers, the cards would be very difficult for anyone to use illegally.

Whether the threat appears real, as with the August PlayStation hackers, or not, as with the March attack by Anonymous Ukraine, all attacks must be investigated—as Sony found out to their dismay over the weekend.

Are some hackers attempting to play the role of a modern-day Robin Hood? Are you concerned about protecting your personal information online or cyberterrorism? Let us know in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2014/09/computer-science-research-topic-on-sony-hacking/feed/0Discussing capital punishment in your research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2014/08/discussing-capital-punishment-in-your-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2014/08/discussing-capital-punishment-in-your-research-paper/#respondMon, 25 Aug 2014 20:31:53 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=30079Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is a controversial subject. Many people are fiercely on one side of the debate or the other.

Capital punishment: deterrent or cruel

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines capital punishment as “the process of sentencing convicted offenders to death for the most serious crimes (capital crimes) and carrying out that sentence. The specific offenses and circumstances which determine if a crime (usually murder) is eligible for a death sentence are defined by statute and are prescribed by Congress or any state legislature.” Each American state can decide for itself whether to institute the death penalty. As of spring 2014, 18 U.S. states have abolished the death penalty.

Proponents of the death penalty say it is a deterrent to crime and that it exacts the ultimate punishment to those individuals who cannot act as civilized members of society. Opponents say it is cruel and unusual punishment and therefore unconstitutional, that statistics prove that it is not a deterrent to crime, it is biased against minorities and innocent people are often executed.

The world rejects capital punishment

In December 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted for the fourth time in five years for a global moratorium on the death penalty. While 111 countries agreed, a select few did not. Saudi Arabia beheaded nine people in January of 2013 alone, Yemen sentenced a juvenile to death, Iran imposed death penalties for petty crimes, Zimbabwe still uses hangmen, and the United Sates in 2012 executed 43 people and issued 77 death sentences. Iran, Iraq, China, North Korea, United States, and Saudi Arabia are the world’s most prolific executioners.

In the article “Stepping Back from Capital Punishment,” by Mohammed Bedjaoui, Ruth Dreifuss, and Federico Mayor in International Herald Tribune, published February 21, 2013, the authors write: “There is a growing understand that capital punishment has no place in any modern justice system… All across humanity’s diverse and sprawling community—encompassing all major cultures, religions and regions—there is growing understanding that this abhorrent practice has no place in modern justice systems.”

Pro capital punishment

While there are many different opinions surrounding the issue, as mentioned above, there are two main sides of the debate. “Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. They argue that retribution or ‘an eye for an eye’ honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy,” according to the authors on DeathPenalty.ProCon.org in “Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed.”

BalancedPolitics.org gives some other reasons for keeping the death penalty:

It gives the victim’s family closure

DNA testing can adequately exonerate the innocent

It relieves overcrowding in prisons

It gives prosecutors a bargaining chip in the plea bargain process

The U.S. justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does victims

Parole and escapees give violent criminals another chance to kill

Against capital punishment

Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Amnesty International USA are working to abolish the death penalty. The ACLU says capital punishment is:

Immensely discriminatory against the poor, minorities and mentally ill from jury selection to who faces execution.

There is a high risk and evidence that the innocent are executed.

Poor offenders cannot afford adequate counsel against the death penalty.

In addition, ACLU writes on its website about Capital Punishment, “There are significant problems with the five methods currently used to execute people (lethal injection, electrocution, firing squad, hanging and the gas chamber), all of which violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.”

The argument that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime is not borne out by statistics. As the execution rate in the U.S. has increased, the murder rate has decreased. Some say that’s because murderers are being put to death, however, over the past 20 years, states with the death penalty have homicide rates above the national average, while states without it have declining homicide rates. This is especially true for death penalty states (Missouri, Connecticut, Virginia) that are next door to non-death penalty states (Iowa, Massachusetts, West Virginia, respectively).